It Hasn't Been A Cruise

Mcphee's Journey From Bahamas To Uconn

September 03, 2004|By TERRY PRICE; Courant Staff Writer

STORRS -- In the days immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, all flights were canceled. So it was that Deon McPhee found himself alone on a bus headed to Florida to see his dying father.

The events grotesquely merged. Samuel McPhee died of cancer before Deon could reach his bedside.

``It was just terrible, all of that happening at the same time,'' McPhee said. ``It was worse knowing I had to make that bus ride. It was horrible.''

McPhee, 22, has met one obstacle after another in what can only be described as an odyssey to becoming a starting defensive tackle at UConn.

It began in the Abacos, Bahamian Islands located about 175 miles east of Palm Beach, Fla. McPhee was born and raised in the Bahamas.

Football was not part of the regimen for the young McPhee. His time was spent swimming and snorkeling and, later, in track and field. McPhee often worked as a tour guide for his father, who ran boat trips for tourists.

It was decided that Deon should go to college. No one in his family ever had. If not for football, McPhee said, ``I'd probably be somewhere in the Bahamas doing construction.''

After completing his educational obligations in Abaco (which, under British rule, has a slightly different protocol), McPhee enrolled at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla.

The purpose of attending Bolles was for McPhee to head to college, which was his father's desire.

``When I went to prep school, I decided to go out one day for football,'' McPhee said.

McPhee was at the school, a football power, for two years. He played football as a junior, but broke his left leg playing basketball that year and needed to have a metal rod inserted.

``It's about 2 feet of rod,'' McPhee said. ``It goes from the bottom of the knee through the shin. The rod was built so the bone grows into the rod.''

McPhee said the leg doesn't bother him, although UConn coach Randy Edsall gave the 6-foot-2, 286-pound junior extra rest when the Huskies were practicing twice a day in August.

Before 9/11, McPhee said, he didn't set off metal detectors. Now, with security increased, he does.

The injury did not stop him from playing football at Bolles his senior year. But a discrepancy over his transfer grades from the Bahamas, raised by one of Bolles' opponents, curtailed his season.

McPhee played only two games as a senior, but he had done enough in his abbreviated high school career to attract interest from colleges. He made an early commitment to UConn, and had last-minute overtures from Rutgers and Florida.

``UConn was a family environment,'' he said. ``That got me right off the top.''

McPhee and sophomore Rhema Fuller are the starting defensive tackles for the Huskies' opener against Murray State Saturday.

McPhee and Fuller are replacing Sean Mulcahy and Ryan Bushey, two outstanding tackles. With end Uyi Osunde also gone from last year, the defensive line will be under scrutiny.

Fuller and McPhee played mostly reserve roles last season, but they did well.

``It's pretty big shoes to fill,'' McPhee said. ``As a defense, we have to come together and work hard as a team. It's 11 guys to the ball. That will make up for Bushey and Mulcahy and Osunde. Those were great players. All I have to do is go hard and give it my best effort, and everything else will take care of itself.''

UConn will also rotate Raymond Blagman and Matt Applebaum at the tackles. Blagman has dropped 20 pounds from last season, but is still a 300-pound Ted Washington type.

``I feel good about them,'' Edsall said. ``The guys inside will fight. Those tackles have to be grunts. They've got to be guys that can fight and sit in there and hold the point. I think we've got guys in there that have the strength and the ability to do that. Those guys have a lot of pride and they know what people are saying about them. They're probably as determined as any group on our football team. I don't think any group wants to be singled out as the weak link.''

McPhee's father never got to see him play football at UConn. But he lived long enough to see his son go to college.

``I feel like he's here with me every day,'' McPhee said.

With all he has gone through, McPhee is thankful to be where he is.

``I feel I have to seize the opportunity every day,'' he said. ``I've got to go hard and enjoy myself. Football is my opportunity.''